1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to the field of pizza packaging systems and to methods of using such systems. More specifically, the invention relates to such a pizza packaging system and method for delivering pizzas.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent times, the pizza pie (hereinafter xe2x80x9cpizzaxe2x80x9d) has become one of the most popular food dish in the United States and other countries. Pizzas typically have square or round, flat crust upon which tomato sauce and cheese, as well as other ingredients, are placed before baking in an oven. One reason for the popularity of pizzas is the wide variety of toppings which may be included on the pizza to satisfy the diverse tastes of the consumers. Many pizzas are consumed in the restaurant (pizza parlors) where the pizzas are made and purchased. However, a very large portion of pizza sales occur through delivery where the made to order pizzas are physically transported and delivered to the customer at the requested location such as their home or work. Various types of packaging systems have been used but most common packaging systems utilize a cardboard box sized to hold one pizza. Typically, the cardboard box has a square top and bottom but other shapes such as hexagon and octagon have also been used. In addition, pizza boxes made of thin corrugated cardboard have also been used to provide increased rigidity and insulation for the pizza being transported and delivered. In fact, such pizza boxes have become the standard for delivery purposes to ensure that the pizzas contained therein maintain their shape and temperature so that the customers receiving the pizza delivery will be satisfied.
Due to their convenience and popularity, pizzas have become a very popular food item for families, parties and other social gatherings where there may be several or more hungry people. Typically, in such situations, more than one pizza is required because of the number of people or because of the differing tastes of the people involved. Thus, for example, if there are a large number of people gathered, many large pizzas having same or variety of toppings may be ordered for delivery. If the gathering consists, for example, only two people having different topping requirements, two small pizzas having different toppings may be ordered for delivery. In these and other instances, more than one pizza is ultimately delivered to the customer, each pizza being delivered in its own, separate cardboard box as described above and being transported by stacking these pizza boxes on top of each other. However, the cardboard box are an added expense to the pizza merchant who must purchase and provide these boxes essentially for free to the customer for each pizza delivered since competition generally prevents separate charges for such boxes. The costs of these cardboard boxes are further increased if pizza boxes made of corrugated cardboard are used, such corrugated cardboard being more expensive than conventional cardboard. Furthermore, because of the relatively bulky dimensions of such pizza boxes, maintaining adequate inventory of these pizza boxes require much space in the pizza parlor further increasing costs of operating in the pizza business. Moreover, each pizza box needs to be assembled from pizza blanks which requires labor and incurs the associated labor costs for assembly of these pizza blanks. These factors, of course, reduce the profit for the pizza merchant while ultimately increasing the pizza cost for the pizza consumers. In addition, when the large orders require the delivery of numerous pizzas, the delivery person must be very careful that the stacked pizza boxes do not shift relative to one another and fall to the ground. This adds to the difficulty of the delivery persons"" task of carrying and delivering the pizzas to the pizza consumers.
In an effort to reduce the costs, various alternative packaging systems have been devised that use a tray to support the pizza such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,075 to Montalbano that discloses a pizza packaging system where each pizza is supported by a deliverable, nonreusable, paperboard tray which is enclosed in a sealed paper bag together with the pizza. These pizzas on the paperboard trays are then placed into a reusable insulating outer box through its side so that they may be transported to their consumers where only the pizza, the trays and the bags are delivered and the insulating outer box is retained for reuse in the next delivery. Although this method of delivering pizzas by using a reusable insulating outer box aids in maintaining the pizzas"" shape and temperature, it has a disadvantage in that the bag can become stuck on the cheese and/or toppings. In addition, because the reusable insulating box is constructed for reuse, the reusable insulating box is sturdy and heavy thereby increasing the total weight which must be carried by the delivery person. Furthermore, because the insulating box must be reused, it must again, be carried by the delivery person after the delivery of the pizzas has been made. Both of these factors add to the difficulty of the delivery persons"" task of carrying and delivering the pizzas to the pizza consumers. In addition, it has been found that such insulating boxes made from corrugated cardboard as taught was not durable enough in that after several reuses, the box began to lose its rigidity making this method of pizza packaging and delivery uneconomical in the long run.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,221 to Ragan and U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,912 to Economopoulos both disclose pizza boxes for holding two pizzas that utilizes a shelf to support a second pizza in a stacked configuration above a first pizza. Unlike the Montablano reference, these references disclose deliverable pizza boxes made of cardboard which may be delivered directly to the pizza consumer. To support and properly position the shelf (and correspondingly, the second pizza), the corners of the side walls of these pizza boxes are provided with numerous horizontal cuts so that these corners may be pushed inwardly along the horizontal cuts to form corner shelf supports in the pizza carrying compartment of the pizza box. The Ragan reference also discloses the use of a separator stand for further supporting the shelf. These pizza boxes have been found to avoid many disadvantages of the previously noted prior art pizza packaging systems but have also been found to have many disadvantages of their own as well.
For instance, it has been found that because the corners of the sidewalls in the pizza box are cut and pushed inwardly, the structural rigidity of the resulting assembled pizza box is greatly reduced. This is especially problematic since the pizza box is supposed to support two pizzas which is approximately twice as heavy as one pizza. In addition, because the shelf is only supported at its four corners by the corner shelf supports and at its center by the separator stand, the midportions of the shelf sags along the edges under the weight of the second pizza which is placed on the shelf. Thus, the pizza boxes disclosed in Ragan and Economopoulos references have been found structurally unstable for supporting two pizzas in a stacked configuration.
Furthermore, the corners of the sidewalls which are pushed inwardly to form the corner shelf supports also cause the pizza carrying compartment of the pizza box to be open to the outside environment. This, of course, causes increased heat evacuation from the pizza carrying compartment and undesirably causes the pizzas being transported in the pizza box to be cooled more rapidly. Moreover, when fully assembled, the corners of the sidewalls which have been pushed inwardly to form the corner shelf supports protrude into the pizza carrying compartment thereby reducing the surface area available for supporting and carrying the first pizza. Because most pizzas are circular in shape and the corner shelf supports protrude into the pizza carrying compartment only in the corners, this generally does not pose any problems. However, many pizzas including xe2x80x9cpanxe2x80x9d pizzas and xe2x80x9cSicilianxe2x80x9d pizzas are square or rectangular in shape so that these corner shelf supports can actually prohibit transporting these pizzas in the pizza boxes disclosed in Ragan and Economopoulos.
The pizza boxes disclosed in Ragan and Economopoulos also are cost prohibitive in that the tooling required to provide numerous horizontal cuts at the corners of the side walls are expensive. Moreover, properly pushing inwardly the corners along the horizontal cuts to form corner shelf supports is relatively difficult and labor intensive. Thus, added labor expense is incurred in assembling the pizza box disclosed in the Ragan and Economopoulos references.
Lastly, it has been found by consumers that the conventional pizza boxes are very difficult to discard because of their large size which does not fit into conventional residential garbage cans. This difficulty has been found to be increased if the pizza boxes are made from a corrugated cardboard which is fairly rigid since the boxes cannot be easily folded for disposal. U.S. Pat. No. 5,110,038 to Pantisano et al. discloses a pizza box including slit cuts along a bottom section of the pizza box which can aid the consumer in crushing and disposing the pizza box. However, the disposal of the pizza box is still encumbered since either the box lid or the bottom section must still be disposed of separately from the section of the pizza box provided with the slits.
Therefore, there exists an unfulfilled need for a pizza packaging system, pizza packaging blank and method for delivering more than one pizza which is economical and cost effective. The is also an unfulfilled need for such a pizza packaging system, pizza packaging blank and method which minimizes inventory requirements and assembly costs. There also exists an unfulfilled need for a pizza packaging system and method for delivering more than one pizza that will ensure that the pizzas delivered maintain their shape and temperature so that the customers receiving the pizza delivery will be satisfied. Moreover, there also exists an unfulfilled need for such a pizza packaging system and method for delivering more than one pizza that provides added utility and is easy to discard.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved pizza packaging system, pizza packaging blank and a method for delivering more than one pizza which is economical and cost effective.
A second object of the present invention is to provide an improved pizza packaging system and method that minimizes inventory requirements and assembly costs.
A third object of the present invention is to provide an improved pizza packaging system and method for delivering more than one pizza that will ensure that the pizzas delivered maintain their shape and temperature so that the customers receiving the pizza delivery will be satisfied.
Still further, it is an object of the present invention to provide for a pizza packaging system for delivering more than one pizza that is easily to discard.
In accordance with preferred embodiments of the present invention, these objects are obtained by an improved pizza packaging system for packaging more than one pizza in a stacked configuration and for delivery to a consumer comprising a pizza box having a lid panel and a bottom section with a bottom panel bounded by a plurality of side panels extending upwardly from the bottom panel to define a pizza receiving compartment, the bottom panel being adapted to receive and support a first pizza. The lid panel is hingably attached to the bottom section in a manner to provide topographical access to contents placed within the pizza receiving compartment. The pizza packaging system in accordance with the present invention also includes an upper level insert sized to be inserted into the pizza receiving compartment, the upper level insert being elevated above the bottom panel and providing an upper level surface adapted to receive and support a second pizza, the upper level insert including at least one support flap which extends downwardly to support the upper level insert. Preferably, there is provided at least two or even four support flaps disposed on a peripheral edge of the upper level insert such that the flaps abut the plurality of side panels and are supported by the bottom panel to thereby provide edge support for the upper level insert. In this regard, the support flaps may be downwardly foldable portions of the upper level insert.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, the pizza packaging system also comprises at least one supporting means for supporting the upper level insert in the pizza receiving compartment. Preferably, the at least one supporting means is a support member which rests upon and is supported by the first pizza. The support member in one embodiment may be formed as a plastic table having a body portion and a plurality of legs extending therefrom. If only one support member is provided, the support member may be attached to a substantially central location on an underside of the upper level insert. Preferably, three or four support members are provided, the support members being substantially equally spaced distance from a central portion of the first pizza and from one another. Alternatively, the supporting means may be formed as a cutaway on the upper level insert which form downwardly foldable support members.
In accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention, the bottom panel, at least two of the plurality of side panels and the lid panel, each have perforations adapted to allow division of respective panels along the perforations. In this regard, the perforations on the lid panel corresponds in alignment with the perforations of the bottom panel when the pizza box is in a closed configuration to thereby allow the bottom panel and the lid panel to be divided simultaneously. In addition, the upper level insert may also be provided with similar perforations adapted to allow division of the upper level insert.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the upper level insert includes a venting means for forming a vent that allows ventilation between the first pizza and the second pizza to aid in retaining of heat in the pizza box. In this regard, the venting means may include a support panel having an extension that extends into the upper level surface of the upper level insert, the extension being separated from the upper level surface via at least one of a slot cut and a perforation. By this configuration, the vent is formed by downwardly folding the at least one support flap.
In still another embodiment of the present invention, the bottom panel includes at least one slot, and the support flap of the upper level insert includes at least one elevating tab adapted to be inserted through the slot so that the elevating tab protrudes from the bottom panel. In this regard, the elevating tab preferably includes at least one enlarged portion which is sized relative to the slot so that interference fit exists during insertion of the elevating tab into the slot, the enlarged portion preferably being sized relative to the slot so that an edge of the slot catches on the enlarged portion to rest thereon. The slot and the elevating tab allows the pizza box to be elevated off the support surface to minimize heat loss through conductive heat transfer. In another embodiment, a plurality of slots are provided on the bottom panel while a plurality of elevating tabs are provided, the elevating tabs including two enlarged portions.
Moreover, in accordance with preferred embodiments of the present invention, the above noted objects are obtained by an improved pizza packaging blank assemblable into a pizza box for packaging more than one pizza in a stacked configuration and for delivery to a consumer. The pizza packaging blank comprises a bottom panel bounded by a plurality of side panels which are foldable to extend upwardly from the bottom panel to define a pizza receiving compartment when the pizza packaging blank is in an assembled configuration, a lid panel hingably attached to an upper edge of one of the plurality of side panels for providing topographical access to contents placed within the pizza receiving compartment, and an upper level insert which is substantially the same size as the bottom panel for providing an upper level surface, the upper level insert including a plurality of support flaps foldably attached to peripheral edges of the upper level surface. In still another embodiment of the pizza packaging blank, the bottom panel, at least two of the plurality of side panels and the lid panel, each have perforations adapted to allow division of the pizza box along the perforations. In this regard, the upper level insert may also include perforations adapted to allow division of the upper level insert.
In still another embodiment, the upper level insert may include a venting means comprising a support panel having an extension that extends into the upper level surface of the upper level insert, the extension being separated from the upper level surface via at least one of a slot cut and a perforation. By this configuration, the vent is formed by downwardly folding the at least one support flap. In still another embodiment of the present invention, the bottom panel is provided with at least one slot, and the support flap of the upper level insert is provided with at least one elevating tab adapted to be inserted through the slot so that the elevating tab protrudes from the bottom panel. In this regard, the elevating tab may include at least one enlarged portion which is sized relative to the slot so that interference fit exists during insertion of the elevating tab into the slot, the enlarged portion preferably being sized relative to the slot so that an edge of the slot catches on the enlarged portion to rest thereon.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention when viewed in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.